Young Adult Writer Excites Readers About Sci Fi

PJ Haarsma Talks About His Science Fiction Book Series The Softwire

Apr 30, 2009

Science fiction author PJ Haarsma talks about the real-world influences behind his popular science fiction book series The Softwire.

Read PJ Haarsma’s The Softwire series, and you’ll find a science fiction book series about orphaned kids sold into slavery by aliens, a commentary on discrimination, or an introduction to the science fiction genre.

According to Haarsma, all these readings are valid interpretations of his science fiction book series, which has excited many young readers over the years.

Suite 101 spoke to Haarsma via an April 16, 2009 phone interview, and learned about his reasons for writing The Softwire and future plans for the series. The following is an edited version of the interview.

Haarsma: When I wrote The Softwire, I wrote it with the mindset that there aren’t a lot of science fiction books for young readers to get started on. And as an avid reader of science fiction, even I sometimes feel dumb when I open up a science fiction book and I don’t know what’s going on because there’s nothing for me to relate to.

So with The Softwire, I kept the science but pushed it to the back and brought the kids’ stories to the front. That way, my readers can enjoy a book that’s sci fi based and discover the sci fi genre, which I don’t think is well-represented for middle grade readers.

Suite 101: In The Softwire, a group of kids immigrate to an alien world – the Rings of Orbis – and become “knudnik” slaves of aliens who discriminate against human “foreigners.” Why did you want to explore issues of immigration and discrimination in a science fiction book?

Haarsma: Being Canadian and growing up, I always wanted to immigrate to the United States. And when I did, I got to see a different side I never knew. Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S. – but I lived in Miami and I’d see all these issues with Cuban-Americans. And in San Diego and LA you see these issues with Mexican-Americans.

And these people are struggling so hard to work within the system and I wondered – what did they sacrifice to be here, and is being here everything they thought it would be?

And that was the whole thing behind the Rings of Orbis – this Utopia that these burnt-out planets dream about going to. But once you go there, you realize you have to give up part of your life to servitude on Orbis and live a sub-life in exchange for saying you live there. And is it worth it?

Suite 101: Do you need to read the books in the order they were written to understand them?

Haarsma: I don’t like it when all the wonderment is gone after Book One, so I made it a point that the kids would spend one year on each Ring of Orbis for each book.

Each ring is for a different purpose – mining, government, Citizens, knudniks – so as the kids go from ring to ring, the environment changes and creates a unique story and self-contained conflict for each book. There was a reviewer the other day who read Book 3 before the other books and felt it held up on its own.

Suite 101: You signed up for a four book series. Will there be more books?

Haarsma: Maybe. I’m talking with my publishers about doing two more books not set on Orbis. We’re also talking about doing four graphic novels based on the books.

Suite 101: What can you tell us about The Softwire movie you’re working on?

Haarsma: I’m working with [young adult author] Frank Beddor and his production company Automatic Pictures for the movie. Frank produced There’s Something About Mary, so I gave him the rights to create The Softwire movie. We didn’t want to option it off to some studio where it could be left in limbo for years – we wanted to have more control over it, so that’s why we’re going a little slower.

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